However, the subpoena represents the latest indication of the breadth of the special counsel’s nearly year-long, wide-ranging probe into possible collusion between Russian agents and members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. The New York Times first reported news of the subpoenas.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders referred questions about the matter on Thursday to the Trump Organization.
Alan S. Futerfas, attorney for the Trump Organization, said they have sought to cooperate with the special counsel.
“Since July 2017, we have advised the public that the Trump Organization is fully cooperative with all investigations, including the Special Counsel, and is responding to their requests,” he said in a statement. “This is old news and our assistance and cooperation with the various investigations remains the same today.”
The special counsel’s investigation has been already looking at other aspects of the Trump Organization’s business dealings for months, but this latest sign shows the attention is now turning to Russia-related matters.
As ABC News has previously reported, four months into his campaign for president, then candidate-Trump signed a letter of intent to pursue a Trump Tower–style building development in Moscow, according to a statement from the Trump Organization’s then-chief counsel, Michael Cohen. The proposal would have involved the construction of the world’s tallest building in Moscow, according to developers of the project.
The disclosure from Cohen, who has described himself as Trump’s personal lawyer, came as Cohen’s attorney gave congressional investigators scores of documents and emails from the campaign, including several pertaining to the Moscow development idea.
“Certain documents in the production reference a proposal for ‘Trump Tower Moscow,’ which contemplated a private real estate development in Russia,” Cohen’s statement says. “The decision to pursue the proposal initially, and later to abandon it, was unrelated to the Donald J. Trump for President campaign.”
In a separate statement texted to ABC News at the time, Cohen says, “The Trump Moscow proposal was simply one of many development opportunities that the Trump Organization considered and ultimately rejected.”
Last year, President Trump told the New York Times that Mueller’s team would be crossing a “red line” if it started investigating the Trump Organization and/or the Trump family businesses for matters beyond Russia.
“I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows? I don’t make money from Russia,” Trump told the Times during the interview last year.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
